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Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Another Tack Test

It's just exactly what the title says. Not much to say about it other than I can't wait to finish it!!

Thursday, October 8, 2009

2-D Character Test

This is a quick test of my latest 2-D character assignment. The character is Tack from The Thief and the Cobbler. It's an old animated movie, pretty much Aladdin story wise, but it was made before Aladdin. It's really a good movie with some great animation, and Vincent Price is the voice of the bad guy!!! Anyway, here's my animation.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Summer Projects

Working on a few different ideas during the summer, well doing more prep work and design than animating. I can't exactly animate since I don't have anything to animate with at the moment. But still working is really fun, I love the set up and getting the idea together. Right now I've got an animated music video for "Who Let You Go" by The Killers. I love that song, it's so fantastic!! And I'm also working on a new comic series, the details are still fuzzy but it's coming together. I'm using a style that's a comination of Flapjack and Scott Pilgrim for the music video and the characters look great! I'll get some sketches up of them and a few of the backgrounds.

Still deciding whether I should animate this in Flash or traditional, that's really my biggest road black at the moment. I just have to make up my mind before Septembet 14th. Guess that's all I've got for now. I'll get some sketches up soon.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Nuts

The End is Here

Here it is, the last day of Digital Cel Animation, and I have to say it was a lot of fun. Of course there are always things you would do differently in every situation, and looking back on this class there are a few things I would do differently too. First off I would practice more with Flash outside of class. I mean yeah, I did work on outside projects but they were shorts. It was fun and I did learn from it, but if I could do it again they're would be more of them and they would be longer. Also, I would settled on a topic sooner. It's not always easy to decided on a topic when there really are no limits to what you can do, but still I took too long and changed near the end. Though it did give me extra practice! I got most of the way through one when I decided that it wasn't what i wanted to do, I wasn't having fun with it. So then one day while I was walking to Norris Hall I saw some squirrels and the idea just hit me. Now this one I had a lot of fun with, and that's one thing I wouldn't change if I could do it all over again. Being happy means doing what you like, and I loved this class. Not much else I would have done differently except maybe not wait until 10 pm to start working on this. It never failed, every time I would sit down to work on this it was around 10, weird. Also, I probably would do the entire thing on a mac with a Cintique monitor. The mac becuase it's easier to get sound into the file on a mac, just drag and drop. And the cintique just because it made everything a whole lot easier. So I guess that's all I've got for the last day, other than posting the aniamtion. Bye for now, just until I get another project up here.

Almost

Well it's being exported right now from Flash and I'm really excited!! I just hope the colors will turn out ok. If not I'm gonna be really really upset. I know I used the color palette our professor gave us with web safe colors, so I'm not really sure why the colors are messed up on the still images. Oh well, hopefully they'll turn out ok!

A Few More Images


Here are a few more images from my animation "Nuts", these are the poor squirrels who get their nuts scared away from them. And the colors are off, I'll get that fixed soon.
Here is the white squirrel's nest, once again weird colors...

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Character Sheet


This is the main character for Nuts. He's an adoreable white squirrel!!

And here is the little valley where the white squirrel lives in his nest. Yes, squirrels live in nests.

Changes...

OK, so I know all I have left is this week, but I have a change for what I'm doing. I've been working on 2 projects and I've decided to post the other one on here instead. Neon Tiger will make in eventually but I'm really enjoying this one a lot more and I just like it better. So I'll put the premise, character designs, and some short animations on here tomorrow. It's really fun and the title is "Nuts". I'll leave you with that for now!

Monday, May 18, 2009

The End is Near

Ok, well I lied about getting stuff up this weekend. Lots going on and my computer was loading really really really slow. So, that's going up this week so you can see what's been going on with my project. I'm still on that elusive hunt for music, but I think I'm getting closer to what I want. The animation in coming along nicely and I'm pretty excited to see it finished. So that's about all I've got for this post, but I'll keep updating til I'm done with the project. Then that will go up!

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Workin for the Weekend

Well still working, though a minor set back this weekend. I participated in the sand arts festival and got second degree burns on my back. Yay sunburn!! So I really didn't get a whole lot done this weekend, seeing as how I couldn't even sit in a chair on Saturday and Sunday. But otherwise I'm still pretty much on schedule. I'll have some clips up from a couple scenes sometime this weekend. There's no sound yet, still trying to find the right music for it. As soon as I get the music I'll reload the clips with music. So, that's all I've got for now.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Animation Zombies

It's kind of funny to come into Montgomery right now, by right now I mean the end of the quarter. There are more and more people here at any and all hours of the day and night working on their projects...thus animation zombies. They just sit there staring at computer screens, completely engrossed in their work, or just asleep at the station with their eyes open. Either one would be plausible and very very believable. Anyway, just thought I'd share that. Well, my animation is coming along pretty well, I've been trying to keep up with my schedule and so far I'm making it. Though some days it feels like I'm just barely making it happen. Juggling class work can be a little difficult sometimes, but it's not that bad this quarter. Like I said it's coming along and I'm happy with what I have so far. That's all I have for now. Oh and... Brains!!

Monday, May 4, 2009

Work, work , work...

As the title implies I'm busy working on my animation, as well as all my other stuff as I gear down to the end of the quarter. So far I'm still on schedule, I'm also trying to find some kind of music to go along with it but I'm having a bit of a hard time finding the right music. Hopefully that will get done soon so I can stop worrying about it. Other than that not a whole lot else to report. Just working constantly, well my fiance did just get the Adobe suite on his laptop recently so I can now use flash CS4, and not have to constantly go to the Dyson lab or across town to Monty all the time. So that's a big plus! but like I said before, other than that, nothing really to report. Still working and trying to stay on schedule is all.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

On Schedule

So far my animation is on schedule and doing well. I've been working on an easier and better way to select my Neon Tiger, since he's just a patch and has nothing in side him. That tends to make it a little difficult to select him and move him around. But anyway, as I said before, so far everything is on schedule and coming along nicely, so I'm happy.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

I Love Bunny


This is a lip sync test done for class. I used my own character, a rabbit based on me, and took a sound clip of Lucy from I Love Lucy, it seemed fitting. I made eight different heads with the different shapes for the mouth and converted them all to separate symbols. Then I made a new layer for the animation, added key frames where they were needed, then on those key frames I swapped out the symbols to make the mouth movements. The hardest part was getting the timing down so the lips would match. It took a lot of little adjustments but it's done!

Schedule

Here's the schedule for the final production:

Week 1: April 21-25: continue finishing work on backgrounds and characters, create, block, and animate scene 1
5 Hours

Week 2: April 26- May 2: Block out and animate scene 2, begin blocking scene 3
5 Hours

Week 3: May 3-9: Animate scene 3, block out and animate scene 4, possibly begin blocking scene 5
7 hours

Week 4: May 10-16: Animate scene 5, block and animate scene 6
7 hours

Week 5: May 17-23: Block and animate scene 7 and 8, add sound effects and music
9 hours

Week 6: May 24-26: Edit and do any finishing to animations and sound

May 27: DUE DATE

There will be a calendar posted with this same info later.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Rotoscoping Again


Here's the second rotoscoping project I did. Instead of using footage provided for me by the professor I used a clip from a short student music video I helped on. The same process was used to create this rotoscopd footage as the original project. So not muched changed tho, this oen was more fun since it wasn't just a walk cycle with the same movements over and over.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Neon Tiger Jumps


This is the main character for my final animation, Neon Tiger. He's a tiger made out of neon lights, and he's jumping. The process was pretty much the same as the puppet jump, although he was a little harder since he has more parts. Also, it was difficult to select him since he doesn't have a fill color, I actually have to click directly on the line or I would be selecting the background. It didn't take too long and it wasn't that difficult, it just took a very steady hand to do it.

Still Working

Well I am slowly but surely getting all of my tutorials finished. They have to be done by Wednesday, but good thing I don't have far to go. I just need to get them posted. Also, my Neon Tiger final is coming as well. I have backgrounds done and character designs as well. Which those aren't too hard since there are only two characters in my animation. Makes it a bit easier for me too. Well that's all for now, I'll update again before Wednesday with the rest of my tutorials.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Rotoscoping


Well this is my first attempt at rotoscoping. It took a while, tho you wouldn't think tracing about 85 frames would take that long. It changes colors every frame for fun, I really like the way it looks. And because it helped me keep track of what I was doing. Since every frame was a different color it was really easy for me to switch back and forth between them very quickly and know right where I was. So, it really wasn't that hard, it was just rather time consuming. For the next one it's probably just going to be an outline without any shading on it, that should cut down on the time it takes to finish.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

So Far

Well so far I've got storyboards done and an establishing shot of the location. Those will be scanned and posted later, don't have them with me right now. I'm tweaking the script as I'm finishing the storyboards and that will also get posted as soon as I'm finished with it; which should be tomorrow or Firday. Other than that just working on the tutorials for class and finishing up what I have so far.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Oops

Well I just noticed that the original layer of the puppet was left on the flash file. So I'll go in and get that out tomorrow and then edit that post. So ignore the second puppet in the background on the first frame please.

Puppet Jump



This is the first jump animation I did in Flash. I used the character my Professor provided for our class and began from there. I had to import the image as a bitmap and color it first. Then break it down to the head, neck, and foot. After putting them on separate layers I was able to create keyframes in the positions I needed and animate from there. Once the frames were all in place I used the transform and rotate tools to get the puppet to move how I wanted him to and at the desired speed. After getting the general positions and sizes I fixed the ease in and out, though there wasn't much to change to get it to look right. After that I tweaked the position of keyframes and poses on inbetweens.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Bouncing

These are the two bouncing ball aniamtions I did in Flash. My very first ones!


This one was done by changing the ease in/ ease out slider to get to desired timing and movement. I think it turned out pretty well. Also I had to add a keyframe before and after the squashed one otherwise the squash would carry through the entire animation. I had to put a keyframe at the top of the arc as well to get the ball back to it's round shape. So I ended up with a lot more keyframes than I thought I would have in the beginning.



This second bouncing ball was aniamted by using the custom ease in/ ease out window in Flash. It was a lot trickier to figure out since I couldn't see the results right away. I had to adjust the curve in the window and hit OK before I could see how it looked. And when it didn't work I had to open it back up and kind of guess at it until I got it right. So this one took a lot more time than the first one. The same method for the keyframes had to be used in this one as well, for the same reasons. I wanted the ball to keep the right shape throughout the whole animation so that meant a lot of keyframes. It turned out alright, not quite as good as the first one, but I'm not terribly disappointed with how it turned out.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Cute

http://www.mojizu.com/Pages/zoomer.aspx?mjcode=1f8c401c-66de-4b87-b98f-9fc01b931f03
This one is just plain adorable, I mean who wouldn't want one of these to follow them around all the time?

Actual Premise

Ok so here is the premise. I decided not to do one of my comic ideas (although those might come later) and I came up with a different idea from a doodle in a notebook of a really cute tiger. There is a Vegas-like strip of neon signs that all have different flashing logos and character on them. We start on a neon tiger dancing on the sign of a night club, named The Neon Tiger (which is also the character's name). He stops his continuous dance and looks up to see a pink cat on a sign further down the strip. It is the sign to Pretty Kitty Pedi nail salon. She looks up and noticed Neon Tiger who she smiles and winks at. Of course this gets Neon really excited and he's about to go rush off and meet her when the camera pulls back to reveal a daunting distance that Neon didn't notice. Blinded by love? So he makes his way across the strip falling through lights as they blink on and off, using the moving ones to further his progress, and so on. After a long perilous journey he reaches Pretty Kitty who then pulls him into a kiss. And as she kisses him he gets a surge of electricity which drains the rest of the lights on the strip. But that's ok because now Neon and Pretty have their privacy, no prying eyes from the other signs. Oh and the title is Night Lights. Let me know what you think!

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Premise

Well I have a few ideas for my final, but so far I'm not possitive as to which one to do yet. I've made several comics in teh past and they're usually pretty funny...I think they are. And the designs I have are very simple and cute so I'm pretty sure I'm going to stick with those characters, and possibly one of the comics that's been finished. Or maybe one that I worked out but never got to. But anyway that's about all I've got for now. I'll get the script up soon with the full story and everything.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

More Inspiration




Another big influence I is the work of Simone Legno, his line is Tokidoki. It's all very simple and cute, and even the more realistic women are very simplstic and stylized.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Inspiration

Well so far on www.mojizu.com I have really liked the characters and style of Juuancaa. Especially Sky Surfer, TVunny, and Joky. They are very cute and simplistic but still have so much energy and life to them. Another inspration would be the styles of Crowded Teeth, go check them out. A lot of the same cutsie simple designs, animals with their eyes a little too far apart. Enough to make them cute but not enough to make them creepy. I really enjoy the blocky bodies with tear drop arms and legs and an almost egg shaped head, just a little more evenly rounded. Also on mujizu I like the characters by mostro, especially Rusty Robot and TragaFuego. Also in the cute little body area.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Animations

This is my favorite villian ever, Ratigan voiced by Vincent Price!


The horse and singing are the best part of this Bugs Bunny cartoon. I want a horse like that, it's so fat with it's tiny feet.


The absolute best scene in Beauty and the Beast, my all time favorite Disney movie.



Monday, March 23, 2009

Me, Myself, and I

Hi my name is Jenni Brown and I'm from Illinois, no not Chicago. I'm from Taylorville, a small town in central Illinois. Farming town where the hip and fun thing for young people to do is cruise our town square on a Friday and Saturday night. I actually live outside of town on 18 acres of timber which is great becuase of all the wildlife and the vast amount of stars that can be seen at night, it truly is gorgeous. I'm 21 and I transfered here last year from a community college in Springfield (which is the capitol of Illinois, not Chicago) with an associates in art. So I've got 2 years under my belt and I'm working on finishing the last 2 or 3.

As I said in class I'm an animation major with a minor in sequential art. I'm also kind of majoring in film, my fiance is a film major and I help him on all his projects. Over the Christmas break we were one of the two teams from SCAD to be chosen as finalists in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Filmmakers Award contest. But anyway, as you can tell I really like to draw, since I'm doing animation and sequential. Always have and I'm pretty sure I always will. Before I decided on animation I really considered going into zoology (the study of animals) because I love animals so much. In high school I focused more on science classes than art, actually I never took an art class in high school. But animation has always been a passion of mine. So most of my drawings and other art have something to do with animals and the outdoors. Also, an odd hobby I have is balloon animals. I love making them and my room is usually full of them. If you see a balloon sculpture in the Weston mail room it was made by me.

My favorite animator would have to be Don Bluth. His style and stories always fascinated me and I watched his films more than I watched Disney films as a kid. Rock-a-Doodle is my favorite film by him, followed closely by Secret of Nihm and All Dogs go the Heaven, and then Anastasia. Also I absolutely love the old Warner Bros. cartoons. My favorite episodes they every did were "What's Opera Doc" and "The RAbbit of Seville". Yes, I love musicals and am a rather musical person. I also am a huge fan of cartoon violence because to be honest it's just hilarious. Of course I do have my favorite Disney films as well. My all time favorite being Beauty and the Beast, and the The Lion King , and The Little Mermaid. Also The Great Mouse Detective, older and more obscure but Vincent Price does the voice for the villian, Rattigan, and I think his voice is fantastic. My favorite illustrator and comic artist is Ben Caldwell. He is an amazing artist and very close to what I think the link between comic and animation art. If you get teh chance google him and check out his site. His use of straight vs. curve on all his characters is so awesome. And his poses are so incredibly dynamic!! Seriously please go check him out.

Personally I love 2-D animation. Yeah 3-D is cool and the things they can do with it are nothing short of phenominal, but 2-D is my first love when it comes to animation. I'm just a fan of the aesthetic and the process. I love the painted background and the cells, it's just so cool and magical to me. Yeah sounds corny but it's true. So naturally I'm really excited about Disney's new 2-D film The Princess and the Frog. Plus there's going to be a soulful singing aligator, what more could anyone want out of life.

Well, that's me. If you want to know anything else just ask, I'm a pretty friendly person.